516th played so far
Genre: Action
Platform: Internet
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Adam Saltsman
Publisher: Adam Saltsman
Canabalt is listed as one of the first, and still most influential, endless runners. Available online, as well as having buyable HD editions, it seems to have spread by word of mouth – although I didn’t hear of it before the list, Peter did. And while I’ve tried it before, now is the time to really play the game.
Our Thoughts
After the complicated nature of MechWarrior 2, the previous game, it’s nice to deal with the simplicity of Canabalt. You only need to press the jump button at the right time, making sure you clear gaps and obstacles and don’t slow down so far that you’ll miss your jumps. It’s simple, easy to understand and with the semi-random world going on forever, a simple race of endurance to see how long you can keep going for.
The graphics are in a stylistic greyscale, simple and effective, while detailed enough to provide a bunch of background details that create diversity while you’re running.
Final Thoughts
There isn’t much to this game – it works well as a brief diversion – but it’s a lot of fun and does what it does really well. Later games build on the formula and add things, but I think this pure experience works best. Don’t think, just jump when you need to.